‘IN TIME WE HATE THAT WHICH WE OFTEN FEAR’: A READING ON THE HATED CHARACTERS IN LITERATURE

Abstract

Whatever the genre - romance, biography or fantasy - the readers are generally enticed by the characters portrayed in the stories.  The impact created by the characters persists in the readers’ imagination even after the perusal of the work.  While the virtuous heroes with their noble actions are often applauded, the not-so-good villains continue to stay in the readers in a very perturbing groove. Two of such disturbing characters usually loathed by a legion of readers - Heathcliff and Cholly Breedlove- are taken up for study in the present paper.